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104-10331-10076

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| 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992 | |

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CSI-0042/95
27 June 1995

MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence

VIA: ' Executive Director
General Counsel
FROM: . Brian Latell
Director, Center for the Study of . ,
Intelligence
SUBJECT: JFK Review Board Actions on CIA Records .
REFERENCE: Letter to DCI fr Executive Director, - a

ARRB dtd 21 June, 1995, Same Subject

1. Action Requested. That you disapprove the DO recommen-
dation for you to sign the attached letter to the President.. The
letter recommends that. the President postpone the release by the
JFK Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) of the names of two
CIA employees who retired under cover. (C)

2. Background. On 7 June 1995, the ARRB made a formal
determination to release in full to the National Archives 16
CIA documents from Lee Harvey Oswald's 201 file. The President
John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992
stipulates that the President has 30 days after written notifica-
tion of such determinations to either request the disclosure or
postponment of disclosure of documents. Appeals procedures also
require that the Agency advise the White House Counsel within
seven days of notification of Board actions, if we wish to

‘appeal. The Agency was notified on 21 June 1995 (see reference).

OoGC will unofficially notify White House Counsel within the
seven-day period of the DO objection to release. (U)

3. This Center has worked closely with the Board and its
staff and has declassified about 220,000 pages of Agency records
that have been sent to the National Archives. A large percentage
contain redactions, however, and it is those excisions that are
now being systematically reviewed by the Board which has full
access to the unredacted records. The Board will meet more or
less monthly and is likely to press for lifting a significant
percentage of CIA's redactions. The pending determination is the
first taken by the Board involving Agency records. (U) >

cL BY:
DECL: OADR

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SUBJECT: JFK Review Board Actions on CIA Records

4. The DO Position: The Acting Deputy Director for -’
Operations reluctantly acquiesces to the release in full of the
16 documents with the exception of two that contain the names of
two Agency employees who retired in covert status. The DO‘argues
that acknowledging these officers could expose them to physical
danger, possibly threaten past operations and individuals with:
whom they worked, and abrogate our agreement to protect their
identities. The two documents (#104-10015-10052 and #104-1005-
10153) and the DO's argument for the continued protection of the
two former employees are attached. (S)

5 CSI Position: After consultation with OGC, we;-donot
believe the DO's damage argument would merit Presidential :
reversal of the Board's decision. The Board's staff has advised
that in the absence of “clear and convincing evidence” of a
threat to the personal safety of a retired officer if his or her
employment were revealed, the Board does not believe the JFK Act
permits withholding names. The DO does not cite evidence that
the two officers would be in physical danger. Furthermore, OGC
advises that the DO's current policy of liberally rolling back
cover for career covert officers who ask to be retired overt —
would seriously undermine the credibility of such an appeal. (8S)

6. Recommendation: That you not appeal the JFK Board's
decision to the President and thus_that you disa ove the DO's
recommendation. (U)

Brian Latel

Attachments:
A. Documents 104-10015-10052
and 104-1005-10153

B. DO Document

DISAPPROVED:

irector oO entral inteliigence Date

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SUBJECT: JFK Review Board Actions on CIA Records

DCI/CSI/BLatell:aw/30214 (27 June 95)

Distribution: ,

Original - Addressee (w/atts) ‘
_1.-'DDCI (w/atts)
ExDir (w/atts)
Executive Registry (w/atts)
Executive Secretariat (w/atts)
General Counsel (w/atts)
ADDO (w/atts)
D/CSI (w/atts)
C/HRG/CSI (w/atts)
C/HS/CSI (w/atts)
CSI file (w/atts) S
CSI chrono (w/atts)

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i . Central insleence Agency

The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

Under the “President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records
Collection Act of 1992,” this agency has been reviewing and
forwarding to the National Archives all of its records relating
to the assassination of President Kennedy. As.a part of that
process, those records and specific information within: records
which were determined to require continuing protection were
postponed from release under the guidelines of the Act.

The Assassination Records Review Board appointed by you is
responsible for reviewing the postponed materials not only of
this agency, but all government departments involved in this
effort. The Board then makes a determination that a particular
postponement was justified under the Act or that it was. not.

If the latter occurs, the agency then has thirty days in which
to present its case to you and ask you to concur in the continued
postponement.

. We are now at the point where the Board has made a deter-
mination to release the names of two former Agency officers who
‘served in a covert status during their Agency careers in a number
of overseas posts. The position of the Acting Deputy Director of
Operations and one in which I concur, is that release of these
two names would do harm to the Agency and its operations and,
postponement is proper under the Act. In addition, the revela-
tion of these two names would not add to public understanding of
assassination issues in any substantial way. Thus, I recommend
that you direct the continued postponement of the two names.

on behalf of the Agency, I thank you for your consideration
‘of this request.

Sincerely,

John Deutch
Director of Central Intelligence

Enclosure

Unclassified When Separated
From Enclosure

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The President

DCI/CSI/HRG/BHarrelson:pn/x30210 (27 Jun 95)

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- Distribution:

Addressee (w/enc)
DCI (w/enc)

-DDCI (w/enc)

ExDir (w/enc)

Executive Secretariat (w/enc)
Executive Registry (w/enc)
General Counsel (w/enc)

ADDO (w/enc)

D/CSI. (w/enc)

C/HRG/CSI (w/enc)

_C/HS/CSI (w/enc)

CSI file (w/enc).
CSI chrono (w/enc)

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26 June 1995

MEMORANDUM FOR: L. Kay Oliver |
Brian Latell

FROM: William H. McNair
_DO/IRO
SUBJECT: JFK Information Release

Per SA to ADDO, please consider this as the officia-ppo
response and include it in your memo. 3

-

The DDO reluctantly acquiesces to release of documents cited
in ARRB Memo of 21 June 1995 with the following exceptions:

Document No. 104-10015~-10052, CIA Cable, DIR 74673:
Cc. Bustos, originated the cable and testified about it using
her pseudo. She retired in a covert status and resides in
the United States. Release of her name as a CIA employee ;
will damage cover credibility, expose her to the public as a
CIA employee subject to any physical threats which might
ensue, and abrogate our agreement with her as to our
willingness to protect her identify in return for her
willingness to engage in clandestine operations on behalf of
the CIA. We would also point out that she was later
assigned in several overseas locations including Mexico City
and a posting as COS in Trinidad. Exposure of her as a CIA:
employee would also endanger any operations in which she
might have been engaged. Substitution of her pseudo in lieu
of true name would allow the identification of a person yet
protect the persona itself.

Document No. 104-10015-10153, CIA Cable, DIR 85039:
R.W. Herbert was chief of WH Div at the time and signed off
on this cable as authenticating officer. He was an

*intégrated State Officer”|)who retired in a cover status.

His present residence is unknown but his overseas
assignments as an cS. State bapartnent offices would be
compromised by exposure of him as a CIA officer. It is
believed that exposing him as a CIA officer would not only
endanger his operations and those associated with the
operations, but would also place him in physical danger in |
that his field of operations involved anti-Cuban operations.

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